Keeping The Snow Warm
by Nectar of Life
Summary: After a simple joke goes too far, Lola begins to worry that Lincoln will disappear forever. She resolves to do anything she can to make sure that doesn't happen.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - The Son Of Snow

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There are few bonds in this world that are as close as the one that is shared between siblings. Their bond is a bond of blood, a bond of friendship, and a bond of familiarity. One can put more trust in their sibling than even their own parents. It's a special bond that is not to be underestimated by anyone. However, that isn't always the case.

Siblings are infamous for fights. It is second nature for a two or more to love each other one second, and hate each other the next. It all leads to the over exposure one has to their sibling. It is a far different than any other form of exposure. You're with your sibling almost 24/7. And that makes things….difficult, to put it lightly. Still, when push comes to shove, you wouldn't trade them for the world.

Such was the case in the Loud household. A family of eleven children, all of different ages and interest. It was a home filled with chaos, mayhem, and at the end of the day, love. In many ways, it could be considered an ideal family life. And it was here that we find one of the younger family members, Lola Loud, sitting in her room having a tea party with her stuffed animals.

If you had to describe her in one word, cute would probably come to mind. Beauty pageants were her passion, and like most girls her age, she liked all things princess related and pink. Indeed on appearances alone, it would be hard not to fall for her charms. Of course she had her inner demons, we all do, but for the most part, she meant well.

"More tea Mr. Bear?" She said merrily and she poured tea into a small plastic cup. Despite being mainly alone while doing this, tea parties were among her favorite activities. They were soothing to her. It was a chance for her to escape into her own world of class and prestige. She did occasionally wish that one of her sisters would want to join in, but they all had their own activities. Besides, they'd probably sip the tea incorrectly.

"Oh, I'm out of cookies." Lola said as she looked at her empty plate. "Excuse me guests, I'll be back with more shortly."

She stood up, patted her dress and carried the plate out of the room. She had just exited her door when she heard a sound coming out of the room next to hers, which belonged to her older brother Lincoln.

"It's just like Ricky the wrong baby!" Lincoln said enthusiastically.

" _Hm, what are those nerds going on about?."_ Lola thought as she stood by the open door.

"Ricky's so called parents wanted a boy so badly they paid a doctor to switch babies." Lincoln continued. "My parents already had five girls, it makes total sense!"

"It would explain the white hair." His friend Clyde chimed in.

" _Switched babies?"_

"Come on Clyde, we have to get to the bottom of this!" Lincoln said before dashing off, Clyde quickly following behind. The two ran down the hall and to the stairs so quickly that they didn't even notice Lola standing there.

Could Lincoln really be a switched baby? It was true that he didn't look much like the other members of the family. He was the only boy besides their father, and his white hair made him stand out from the blondes and brunettes that filled out the rest of them. But their sister Lisa always explained that as the result of something called recessive genes and a lack of pigment, whatever that meant. So there was no way he wasn't her brother, right?.

Lola kept thinking about this as she started down the stairs.

She saw the two run out the front door as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She wasn't sure what they were up to, but it definitely involved Lincoln potentially not being her brother. She had never thought of that before, and the idea scared her for reasons she didn't know why.

When she got to the kitchen, she found her sister Lynn sitting on the counter eating a protein bar. Judging by her sweat, she probably just came back from a run. Admittedly, she wasn't the best source, but she was the only sister in the house currently who was alive before Lincoln was born.

"Hey Lynn, can I ask something?"

"You just did." She replied with a laugh.

Lola gave her a blank look. Clearly she had made the wrong choice in coming to Lynn of all people. "I would have made a Luan reference, but even she wouldn't have made a joke _that_ lame."

"Ouch, that's pretty harsh Lola." Lynn said. "Alright, what's your question?"

Lola was hesitant to trust Lynn again, but she _was_ the only person around who could feasibly answer her inquiry. "Is it possible that Lincoln got swapped with another baby when he was born?"

Lynn stayed silent for a while, which only made Lola more nervous about the whole thing. Clearly this was a stupid thing to ask.

"Oh, you finally figured that one out huh?" Lynn said with a shrug. "I gotta admit, I didn't expect you to catch on so soon. Lucy and I had a bet going too, now I owe her $5."

"What do you mean?" Lola asked, now more confused than before.

"Lincoln was adopted as a baby. DId you honestly "thing that anyone like him could possibly be a Loud? I love the guy and all, but he's definitely not one of us." Lynn said.

Lola's eyes grew wide at that statement. "You mean it?"

"Absolutely."

"Why didn't anyone tell me or Lola about this?"

"Simple, we aren't allowed to. Even Lincoln isn't supposed to talk about it. I'm nice though, so I figure it's time you knew." Lynn said with a pound to her chest. "Just keep this between the two of us, otherwise we'll both get in trouble."

"But, what about his real parents?"

"Oh those old nobodies? They've been looking for him for ten years and haven't tracked him down yet." Lynn said with a smirk. "They've almost caught on a few times, which is usually why we have to visit Aunt Ruth to throw them off."

"So, they're looking for him?"

"Yep. I'm sure one day they'll find him too." Lynn said as she hopped down from the counter and started to walk away. "And when they do, they'll take him away forever and we'll never see him again. So you should enjoy him while you have the chance."

Lola stood there silently as she watched Lynn walk out of the kitchen. She was completely frozen from shock. All she could do is repeat the same thought in her head over and over again in a seemingly never ending loop.

" _I'm gonna lose Linky?"_

Lynn started chuckling as soon as she got out of Lola's ear range. It was definitely a harsh prank to play, but she was sure that Lola would find it funny eventually. I mean _Come on_ what kind of question was that?! Lynn walked out the front door and took off on her bike. She was sure it would all blow over by the time she got home from soccer practice.

When Lola could finally muster the strength to move, she had all but entirely lost her appetite. She just walked back to her room and laid down. She stared up at the ceiling for several hours before she was called down to dinner. Being a seasoned pageant contestant, she could out on a good face regardless of her inner feelings. So she was able to act normally around her family without giving off any suspicions. As she was at the kids table in the kitchen, she made the typical chaotic bickering with her twin. She had to make sure everything seemed as it should. However, she got distracted when she overheard the conversation in the over room.

"So, what did you do today Lincoln?" Lori asked as she took a bite of salad.

"Clyde and I explored every possible scenario of my birth. It was pretty fun." He said between chews. "A little painful at times though. I definitely don't have super strength."

"Ah ha, and did you figure anything out other than what we already told you?" Lori replied.

Lincoln looked to his parents and saw both of them making a cut throat gesture to him. Indicating that he should definitely not reveal anything.

"Nope, not a clue. My birth remains a mystery to me." He said, pretending to sound disappointed.

Overhearing that made Lola feel even sadder. _"Poor Linky, he doesn't even know that his entire life has been a lie."_ She wanted to bust in and reveal the entire thing to him, but she was worried about the punishment that would befall her if she did. Worse than that though, she was worried about what would happen to Lynn. All she did was give her the honest truth, she didn't deserve to get punished for that simply because she was horrible at keeping secrets. No. Lola decided that if there was one secret she was going to keep, it was going to be this one. She owed it to Lynn. And she definitely owed it to Lincoln. She could barely handle the news herself, it would probably destroy him.

Lola was quickly awoken from her eavesdropping mode before she'd could overhear more.

"Earth to Lola~" Lana said, waving her hand in front of her face.

"Huh, oh what?" Lola replied, unsure of how much time had passed at the table.

"You were spacing out like a zombie. It was an improvement." Lucy chimed in. "But such pleasantries aren't your style it's concerning."

Lola stared blankly at her sister. That was definitely the most morbid way to tell someone you were worried about them. She wasn't quite sure whether to take it as a compliment or an insult.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about this fairytale I read earlier." She replied.

"You're into to fairy tales now?" Lucy asked, using her typical monotone voice.

"I'm trying out some new things. I _did_ just barely get into reading not that long ago after all."

"Well I have some old fairytale books I can lend you after dinner." Lucy said with an uncharacteristic smile. "You should enjoy them."

"...thanks." Lola replied. Lucy didn't smile often. So seeing her smile was usually even creepier than her normal blank face. The only way it would have been a scarier expression is if she had seen her eyes. The very concept of that had Lola was thanking her stars that it wasn't the case.

After dinner, while everyone in the house scattered about to do their own thing, Lola went to wash up. She looked look at herself in the mirror and thought more about Lincoln. She had never thought about him leaving her before. She was always taking him for granted, but could she really live without him? It was all so alien to her. She needed to clear her mind of these thoughts, so she decided to go to the living room to try and watch tv. To her surprise, the room was completely empty, save for one person. Lincoln.

"Hey Lola, what's going on?" He said with a smile as he looked up at her from his seat on the couch.

"Oh not much, just coming to watch some tv. But I see you beat me to it." She said with her typical scoff, though it was mainly for show this time.

"Meh, I can't really find anything to watch, so you can control it." He said, tossing her the remote.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'll just watch whatever you pick. It'll probably be better than anything I can find right now."

Lola walked over to the couch and sat next to Lincoln. As she flipped through the channels, she decided to strike up a conversation.

"So, I hear your day was eventful."

"Yeah, I tested every super power in the book. Zero results though."

"Well maybe your superpower is the ability to not have any superpowers."

Both Lincoln and Lola started to laugh at that.

"Hey, I can live with that." Lincoln said as he caught his breath. "Lincoln Loud, with the amazing ability to know his limits!"

"Well if it's any consolation, you're a great brother. And that's a superpower in my book." Lola said as she continued to flip through the channels, not really putting much thought into her words.

Lincoln's heart was touched. "Thanks. That means a lot."He said. "You're a great sister."

Lola paused for a second. He had never praised her like that before. "You mean it?" She asked.

"Of course." He said without any hesitation. "You're insanely talented, I can always count on you to be honest and speak your mind, you can act selfish at times, but you always put others before you when it matters the most, and you never give up on anything you do. Sure you can be hot headed at times, and you're crazy competitive, but who wants to be around a girl that's all sunshine and rainbows anyway?" Lincoln started to chuckle. "You're the perfect mix of a tough queen and a soft princess."

Lola barely knew how to respond. Those were the nicest words anyone had ever told her. "Well, I only manage what I can because you always help me out." She said softly. She turned her attention from the tv screen and to her brother. "So whatever you do, don't ever stop coming to me when I need you!"

Lincoln smiled at her. "Don't worry. Nothing will ever take me away from you. You're stuck with little old unremarkable me." He said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I can live with that." Lola said with a small smile.

The two continued to talk and watch tv for about an hour before they had to call it a night and go to their rooms to sleep. Lola was hesitant to leave his side, but she was confident that he wouldn't disappear into the night.

When she entered her bedroom, she noticed that Lana was already fast asleep. "She must have played harder than I thought today."

Lola said to herself as she made her way to her bed. On top of her pillow was a small leatherbound book with the name "Hans Christian Andersen" written on it.

"Oh, this must be that fairytale book Lucy told me about." She said as she picked it up. Lola sat on her bed and flipped through a few of the paged before setting on a particular story.

"The Snow Queen huh?" She said as she looked at the title. Lola wasn't particularly tired, and the story seemed short enough, so she decided to read it. She quickly found herself engrossed in the tale.

In the story, the Devil makes a magic mirror that distorts everything to show an exaggeration of the ugliest parts of whatever is shown in front of it. In an attempt to take it up to heaven, the mirror is dropped and shatters into billions of pieces. The pieces end up in the eyes and hearts of humans and they begin to see things as if they were the mirror.

Two characters, a boy named Kai and a girl named Gerda live next door to each other and quickly grow to be such good friends that they are basically devoted siblings. One day they were told of the evil Snow Queen and she appears before Kai, scaring him away. Gerda eventually learns a song that reminds her of her love for Kai, so she starts to sing it to him often.

One day, a piece of the mirror infects Kai and he turns cruel, leaving everyone behind as only the snowflakes are beautiful to him now. There he meets the Snow Queen, who kisses him twice. To make him forget all about Gerda, and she takes him away to her palace. Gerda goes on a long and daring adventure of the course of several years to find him, frozen and forced to spell the words "eternity" out of ice splinters on the throne. She kisses him and manages to make him remember and return to his old self. Together, they manage to escape and return home, both now being adults.

As she read the story, Lola began to cry. She didn't want her brother to change in anyway, and she definitely didn't want some evil snow queen to take him away from her eternity. But she knew it would happen someday. And unlike Gerda, she couldn't go on a grand adventure to rescue him. She would lose him forever, and she would likely be stuck in the sorcerer's house.

"No. I won't allow it." Lola said through her tears. "I won't let them take him away! He's mine. I'll protect him from his real mother, this real life Snow Queen!" Lola put her face into her pillow to mask her voice as she was now fully sobbing.

"I'll keep him good too. No sand will ever get in his eyes. I will make sure of that."

"He may be the son of snow, but I'll keep him warm. He'll never grow cold as long as I can be with him!"

"He will stay with me forever."

Lola kept saying that over and over.

"He'll stay with me forever."

"He'll Stay with me forever."

"He'll...stay...with..me...forever…"

"He'll….stay….with….me….."

"...forever…."

Those were the last words to escape her mouth before she drifted off into a deep sleep. Unsure of what the future would bring, but totally devoted to her brother and keeping him at home with her, where he belonged.

* * *

 **So this wasn't actually supposed to exist, and I definitely don't usually churn things out this fast. But I got a new iPad today along with an Apple Smart Keyboard. I laid out on my bed to test it out and two hours later, this story existed.**

 **Seeing as this was a complete spur of the moment, write as I go story with no planning whatsoever, I have no idea if I will be continuing this. I don't even know how I could continue this. As it stands right now, it could literally fit any genre. I don't know if I want to go a horror route, if I want it to be another drama, if I want it to be a heartwarming tale of two siblings, I have absolutely no ideas for this thing. So I'm just throwing it up here.**

 **As always, I do not read anyone else's work, nor have I ever read anyone else's FFs for this series. So if someone 100% beat me to the punch here, it was entirely coincidental. I highly doubt the concept hasn't been touched since the show itself considered this(I even used a direct quote from that episode.)**

 **But, oh well. Hopefully someone can find some enjoyment of this. If not, I'm sorry for wasting your time.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Protecting the Savior

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Lola was walking down the stairs. It was a seemingly normal day, and she wanted to go outside to get some sun. As she got closer to the living room, she started hearing sounds.

"What's going on?" She asked as she reached the ground floor.

Her mother turned to her, tears in her eye. "It's Lincoln, his real parents came to get him. We'll never see him again." She said, barely able to keep her composure. She buried her head in Lynn Sr's shoulder.

"Real parents?"

Comforting his wife, Lynn Sr spoke. "We adopted him as a baby, we never told you because we were trying to keep it a secret."

She couldn't believe this situation. Everything Lynn Jr had told her was coming true, much faster than she had anticipated.

"No, I can't let this happen!" She shouted as she darted for the door. She was quickly stopped by Lori.

"Don't go out there Lola, you won't like what you see." Said her sister. But Lola didn't care. She couldn't allow her brother to be taken. She forced herself away from Lori and made it out the door.

There was a large brown car, and Lincoln was putting luggage in it. Lola ran up to him and hugged his legs.

"Linky, you can't go! We need you here!" She cried.

Lincoln looked down at the girl with a snarl. "Get off my leg you rangy child." He said as he kicked her off.

"Rangy? But what about all the nice things you told me the other day?" She said, fighting back tears.

Lincoln scoffed. "That mush? That was just to keep you quiet. You didn't honestly think I could care for such a awful, ugly, gap toothed idiot like you, did you?"

Those words made Lola back away. How could her brother be so mean? Seeing her tears made Lincoln burst out into a maniacal laugh. "Oh my god, she actually did believe it! Just how guile are you?!" Lincoln pointed and cackled at her. It felt like the entire world was mocking her now.

"No, stop it. STOP IT!" She cried.

"STOP!"

Suddenly, Lola's eyes popped open. She shot up and moved here eyes all over hers surroundings. She was still in her bed.

"Was that all a dream?" She said to herself as she looked over to her clock.

It was barely three in the morning. Much too early for anyone in the house to be awake. It was only a Sunday after all. She quietly slipped out of her bed and tiptoed across the room. She took extra care to not wake up her twin sister as she opened the door and slid out.

The hallway was very dark, but she was used to the layout by now. Her hands and feet felt like ice as she traveled across the cold house. Lola didn't have time to worry about this though. She needed to check something. Her journey wouldn't be far enough to warrant a wardrobe chance anyway.

She made her way to the door just to the left of hers. From the outside,it looked like an old linen closet, and that's because that is what it originally was. However, it was converted into a makeshift bedroom for her brother. She had to make sure he was still there. Even though she knew it was probably all a dream, Lola wasn't about take any chances. Not with something this important. She slowly cracked open his door, taking caution to not make any noise and poked her head in. Like the rest of the house, room was fairly dark. However, the window at the end of it provided a pale moonlight to illuminate the room ever so slightly. It was dim, but more than enough to see within the room's small radius. There, she found Lincoln, sprawled out on his bed, fast asleep.

Lola sighed in relief. "Oh thank goodness, he's still here." She said to herself as she walked into the room.

She approached his bedside and started to watch him as he slept. He looked so peaceful, so carefree. Occasionally he would let out a small giggle, so he must have been having a good dream. She could tell just by looking at his sleeping smile that he was indeed the same brother she always knew. Just as kind. Just sensitive. Just as unique as she had left him.

Lola started to stroke his hair gently. As she did, she started thinking about all the times that he had been there for her, and how awful that dream truly was. What if she never got the chance to talk to him again? What if she could never see him laugh again? No more arguments, no more mediation between her and Lana. No more opportunities to touch his hair like this.

She started to tremble a bit as she considered a world without her brother. It was a slight tremble, but it was just enough to wake him up.

"Hmm?...Lola?..." Lincoln said, sounding tired and his eyes barely open.

Lola looked at him, and then quickly looked away. "I had a bad dream. I just needed to make sure you were still here." She said. "Sorry to wake you."

She felt a tinge of shame for this. It was ridiculous for her to put so much stalk in something as childish as a dream. It was even more ridiculous to interrupt someone who was having such a wonderful rest because of it. Surely he was going to laugh at her.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that." Lincoln said as he let out a small yawn. He reached out his hand and patted her head softly. "Do you want to stay with me tonight?"

Lola thought about it for a second. She had never slept with her brother before. Usually she got in Lana's bed when she needed extra company.

"Well if you're offering, it would be rude to refuse." She said with a sigh.

Lincoln let out a small laugh and scooted over. Lola climbed into the bed and rested her head on the pillow next to his, but facing the opposite direction. "Goodnight Lola…" He said in a breathy tone. It took only a few seconds for Lincoln to fall back asleep.

Lola may have acted difficult there, but she actually really wanted to accept the invitation. She normally wouldn't have wanted to sleep in such a small arrangement. But she desperately wanted to be with Lincoln. If she was there, then no one could take him away from her while she slept. She listened to the rhythm of his breathing. It was calming. And the bed was warm, unlike the bitter cold of the house around it. There was a comfort that Lola hadn't felt all night.

"Linky?" She said softly.

"Hm…." He mumbled. Mostly asleep.

"Do...you...love me?" Lola muttered. She was embarrassed by her question. But she desperately needed to hear the answer.

"...yes…." Lincoln said in a yawn.

A warm smile grew on Lola's face. She was well aware that Lincoln was asleep, and that there was no chance of him remembering this exchange. But that didn't matter. He reaffirmed his feelings towards her, and that's all that mattered. He didn't hate her, and that was the most important thing.

"Don't ever change." She said as she closed her eyes. She heard a small "mhm" come from Lincoln, who definitely was too far gone to say any actual words.

Gently, Lola fell asleep. There was nothing to be afraid of this time. She had her brother with her to chase away any element of sadness. There were no nightmares to ruin the moment. None were strong enough to reach her. Her smile grew bigger and she cuddled closer to him. She wasn't really sure who was protecting who anymore and she could not have cared less about that. She was happy, and that is all that mattered.

There exists no stranger phenomena than sharing a bed with someone. When you actually manage to fall asleep next to another person, your bodies become in sync. You start breathing in the same pattern, you keep each other warm with the heat that emits from you, and the deepest of connections can be obtained. A special kind of connection. One that causes the both of you to magically awaken at the exact same time as if you were one soul. And that experience of opening your eyes for the first time of the day to the sight of another person opening their eyes brings with it the purest feeling of safety known to the humankind.

It was that safe feeling that awaited Lola as she woke up on Sunday morning. She had slept so well that she had completely forgotten that she went to visit her brother late in the night. But there he was, their eyes meeting each other with well rested comfort.

"Morning." Lincoln said with a big yawn.

"...Good morning." Lola replied.

Lincoln sat up and started stretching his arms. "Did you sleep well?"

Lola stayed laying down and watched him. "Yeah, the nightmare didn't comeback at all."

Lincoln showed her a warm smile. "That's good. You can come to me anytime you can't sleep. There will always be a place for you here."

"Ok...I may take you up on that."

Lincoln laughed a little. "Please do." He excused himself from the bed and walked into the hall to use the bathroom.

Lola turned over and looked at Lincoln's clock. It read **"9:08 A.M."** It had been a full six hours since she had her nightmare. Thinking about it made her feel sick, but she had to consider it. If Lincoln's real parents could find him at any moment, then she would have to do everything in her power to keep them from finding him. Her other family members may have been doing a decent job with it so far, but this was far to important of a task to trust them with. Lincoln meant the world to her, and she would see to it that she could create more mornings for her to cherish with him.

She couldn't think of how to do it though. Lincoln was too friendly of a person. He would likely introduce himself to them without ever knowing who they were. His charming innocence would be probably lead to his undoing…

Lola sat up. Lincoln may have been innocent, but she wasn't. She was much harsher. She was used to blackmail. No one could sabotage a situation like Lola Loud.

She was a queen. And no one was going to take her most precious subject from her. Especially not some evil snow queen claiming to be his mother. She would have to prove to the world that she was stronger. He was her only savior, and she would do anything it took to protect him.

As she got out of the bed, she stepped on one of Lincoln's orange polos. She picked it up and smiled at it. She would have to act strong towards everyone else, but that didn't mean she had to be strong to him. The opposite in fact. She would need to do whatever she could to make sure his warmth never left. He was made from snow after all. Besides, if she acted strong 24/7, she wouldn't have any time left to enjoy being around him.

"If I want you to keep loving me as you always have, I'll have to give you reason to." She said softly as she folded the shirt and placed it on his dresser.

Lola started cleaning up Lincoln's room. She made the bed first, then she picked up all the clothes and random papers from the ground. How could boys be so messy anyway? She had just placed a fallen toy back on the dresser when Lincoln came back.

"Oh, you're still in here?" He said.

"Well, yeah. Someone had to clean this mess of a room." Lola said, returning to her usual sass.

"Haha, well thanks for that. It would have been a pain to be nagged into doing it by someone else." Lincoln looked around his room. It was refreshing to see it clean. He may have too keep it clean more often. "Hey, dad's just about to finish up breakfast. Do you want to head down to the table?"

Lola smiled back at him. "Sure." She walked over to him and took his hand. "Thanks again for last night. I wouldn't have slept at all if you weren't there to save me."

Lincoln smiled back at her. "Don't mention it."

The two siblings walked out of the room and happily made their way to the dinning room where their other family members waited. Their future together may be uncertain, but quiet Sunday's are supposed to be enjoyed with those you love. And that is precisely what Lola planned to do.

* * *

 **Keeping in theme with the unexpectedness nature of this story, the first chapter had an unusually high reception. I got a ton of PMs about it, and more reviews than I have ever received for a single post. So much so that I figured it was worth trying to see where this thing can go. I think I'll keep a trend of making these chapters shorter than my other story. I generally like to do about 10 pages of single spaced 11 font calbri. It makes a chapter around 10 pages, which I think is a fair size. In contrast, these two have only been around 4 pages each so far. That isn't to say I'm putting less effort into them, I just feel that a since I'm still working out the specifics for this tale, that it is better suited for shorter bursts.**

 **I have yet to fully decide upon what genre this will fit into, but I did come up with a general idea. My other story is a more depressing one that is heavily focused on drama. So I think I'll go with a more light hearted route with this one. This is mainly about a child's overactive imagination jumping to conclusions after being mislead, so I don't know if any real drama needs to be present here. If anything, it can as a nice contrast so I don't get seen as someone who only writes overly edgy trash, but also overly mushy trash. We'll see though. I could decide to throw a few curve balls in there. Either way, I'm leaving it genreless for now. Sorry if the lack of a distinct direction doesn't suit your liking.**

 **I also want to take this chance to apologize for the title of this story. It's embarrassingly terrible. The first chapter was written exactly as it is read. No planning, no thinking, no stopping to check facts. Nothing. So "Keeping the Snow Warm." Just happened to be the first thing I wrote. I then wrote the chapter title and went from there. And the literal only reason it was called that was because I was rocking out to Snow(Hey Oh) by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the time. I'm a dork, I know.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - A Sister's Advice

* * *

Lynn Loud was kicking around a soccer ball in the backyard. She had started a new morning training regimen. She would have to score twelve unique shots perfectly in a row before eating any breakfast. The urgency of hungry would serve as an extra boost of motivation for her. It was simply the most brilliant way to improve her skill.

She had just landed her eight shot in a row when Lola walked up to her.

"Hey Lynn, I had some more questions for you." She said.

Lynn didn't take her focus off of her ball. She dibbled it between her feet some more as she talked. "Why are you coming to me?" She asked. She kicked hard and managed to angle the ball just perfectly enough to sink her ninth goal.

"Because I trust you." Lola replied. She walked over to the goal and retrieved the ball. "You're the only one of our sisters who's been honest to me." She tossed its to Lynn, who bounced it off of her knees for a bit.

"Alright, you have my attention, shoot." Lynn said, attentively watching the ball, almost as if she was counting the number of times it juggled from one knee two the next.

"Lincoln's real parents could come back to get him at any time right? So how do I keep them from finding him?" Lola asked.

"Are you still on about that?" Lynn said. She hit the ball over her head and did a flip, managing to hit the ball into the goal. "OH YEAH, I'M THE KING!" She shouted in excitement. She had been practicing that shot for weeks.

"LYNN!" Lola said in annoyment.

"Oh, sorry." Lynn replied. "Look, Just let things go as they are, things have been fine so far haven't they?"

"Exactly, they've been fine. But I don't want fine. I want perfect. I want to keep Lincoln safe."

Lynn put her hand to her chin. Was this joke getting out of hand? _"Nah, it'll be fine."_ She thought as she turned her attention to her sister. "Ok, just find every reason to be around him." She said.

"How will that help?" Lola asked.

"His parents can't get to him if you're there. You're like a rabid dog with a steak when you're around him, no one would dare get in the way of you and something you want." Lynn said as she walked back to get her ball. "Just don't make things seem _too_ forced. You don't want to scare him off or anything."

"Hm… you have a point." Lola said. "Thanks Lynn, I knew I could depend on you." She said happily as she walked away.

Lynn started to snicker as she watched Lola walk off. _"This is getting funnier than i thought, I wonder how long I can keep it up."_ She thought as she went back to her training. She had three more shots to make before she could eat after all.

As Lola entered the kitchen door, she heard the voice of her sister Leni call out to her.

"Ah Lola, is that you? Can you grab the new box of powdered sugar from the pantry? This one is like, totally empty."

"Alright." She said as she walked to the pantry. Upon opening it, she found the box of sugar. The problem? It was on the top shelf. Lola tried to reach it, but it was futile. "Better go grab a chair…" She said as she began to walk away.

"What's going on?" Lincoln said as he walked in. He went to the refrigerator and grabbed a carton of orange juice. He grabbed a cup and started filling it.

"Leni asked me to grab this sugar, but I'm not tall enough to reach it." She replied.

Lincoln put the carton back in the fridge. "Hm, that _is_ pretty high. Here, let me try." He said as he reached for it. He was standing on his tiptoes, but still couldn't reach it. Getting inpatient, Lori walked in the room.

"What's taking you so long Lola, Leni's been talking about how great her french toast will be with powdered sugar nonstop, it's literally driving me crazy." She stopped and looked at the scene in front of her. "Lincoln, what are you doing? You look ridiculous."

"Lola couldn't reach, so I tried to get it." He said, straining as he stretched his arms to their limit.

"Ugh, move over. You're going to hurt yourself." Lori said. She pushed Lincoln aside and grabbed the box with little effort. She didn't even acknowledge the two as she walked back into the dining room. "Hey guys, you'll never guess why they were taking so long."

They couldn't hear the rest, but there was a very audible sound of their sisters laughing. No doubt at Lincoln and Lola's expense.

"Well, that was to be expected." Lincoln said with a sigh.

Lola looked at her feet. "I'm sorry Lincoln, if I wasn't so short, you wouldn't have tried to help me and then you wouldn't have been made fun of." She said in a sad tone.

"Hey, don't worry about it." Lincoln said. He got down on his knew. "So what if you're short? I'm short too." He put his hand on her shoulder. "This just means we'll have to be short together."

Lola looked up at him. "I think I can live with that, if you're alright with it of course."

Lincoln smiled and gave her a wink. "Definitely."

The two joined their siblings in the dining room to eat breakfast. A few more jokes were made about Lincoln being short, but it that quickly died down. It was an eye opening experience for Lola.

" _Have they always been teasing him like this?"_ Maybe it was because of the fear of her retaliation, but she had never been on the shorter end of the stick when it came to sibling mockery. So she never paid attention to it when it happened to her other siblings. _"I guess I've done my fair share of making fun of him too…"_ She started to feel sad.

There was a loud bang of the kitchen door slamming followed by Lynn dashing into the room.

"Sup family?" She said in an energetic voice. She plopped down in the first open seat and began shoving food into her mouth at lightning speed.

"Not that I would ever turn down a funeral opportunity, but you're going to choke if you keep eating like that." Lucy said as she watched.

"Hey, you try shooting forty goals before breakfast and see how fast you eat!" Lynn said defensively before going back to her food.

"You know Lynn, working out without the correct amount of calories does little for your personal muscle growth." Lisa said condescendingly.

"It ain't about muscle _growth_ , out's about muscle memory." Lynn replied. "Can't perfect your form if you don't have a real wager."

"Be that as it may, you are not to do that anymore young lady." Their mother chimed in. "Your father works hard on that food and like it when everyone is able to eat together when it's hot and fresh."

"Yes mom." Lynn groaned.

This was definitely a typical breakfast in the Loud house. A few more quips were given about other topics, but nothing out of the ordinary. The only difference was Lola. As everyone else ate and laughed, she watched intensely.

" _They're so cruel. They mocked Linky so much earlier, and now they're acting like nothing?"_ She thought as she put some food in her mouth and chewed. _"Clearly things are worse than I thought. If I want to keep Lincoln the way he is, I have to protect him from everyone. Even our sisters!"_ As Lola considered this, she glanced over at Lynn. _"Well, everyone except Lynn, I can trust her."_

After breakfast, everyone broke off to do their own things. Lincoln went to his room to get ready for his friend Clyde to come over. This gave Lola a chance to make a move. She snuck into the bathroom and replaced Lori's leave-in hair conditioner with some baby oil. It wasn't the most evil prank she could think of, but it was more than enough to make her pay for teasing Lincoln.

Lola flushed the toilet before walking out, that way no one would be suspicious.

"It's about time, you were literally taking forever." Lori said as she pushed past her.

"My bad Lori~" Lola snickered. This was gonna be good. _"Let's see you laugh as your hair loses its volume for the day."_

Lola walked back to her room and started a tea party with her stuffed animals. She was about to take a sip of tea when she heard the first scream.

"MY HAIR!" Lori screamed.

A grin formed on her face. "Ah, music to my ears." She said as she drank her tea and listened to the chaos that was happening in the hallway.

"LUAN, WAS THIS YOUR DOING?!"

"No, that punchline is too flat for me. HAHA, get it?" Luan laughed. "But seriously, it wasn't me."

"Leni, to our room NOW! We need to brush this out."

"But Lori, I was about to-"

"NOW!"

She could hear the sound of a door slamming as Lana walked into the room.

"Man, what's up with her?" She asked.

Lola shrugged. "Beats me, want some to join me?"

Lana shook her head. "No thanks sis, you know I don't like tea."

"True, but you can have a cookie."

"I'm always game for that." Lana said happily. She joined her at the table and started helping herself to the small plate of cookies.

" _Impressive."_ Lola thought as she watched her twin eat. They had just barely finished breakfast, and she was already eating again.

Just then, Lori barged into the room. Her hair was extremely flat and oily looking. That, mixed with the angry look on her face caused Lana to cough with laughter.

"DID EITHER OF YOU DO THIS?!" She shouted.

"Don't go point fingers at us, we were having a tea party this whole time." Lola said which her eyes closed, taking another drink. Pinky out and all.

"Yeah, we don't have any idea what happened to your hair." Lana added, fighting the urge to full on laugh.

"You were the last one in the bathroom before me!" Lori said angrily.

"Your accusation is about as charming as the smell in your hair Lori, but what would I have of gain by sabotaging your hair?" Lola replied. "Last I checked, I only did that to my pageant competition, you haven't joined a pageant, have you?"

Lori stared at her angrily for a few seconds, but backed off. Lola was right, there was nothing damming against her other than the position in front of her, which was a laughable amount of evidence at best, and flat out jumping to conclusions at worst.

"Fine, you win this time." Lori said. "But I have my eyes on you." Lori slammed their door and walked back to her room to continue her attempt with Leni to salvage it.

"Psh, teenagers." Lana said mockingly as she ate another cookie.

"I know right?" Lola replied. A grin appeared upon her face. "They're so dramatic."

Once their tea party was over, Lana headed for the backyard. She had told Lola she wanted to check out the hose faucets, and adjust the sprinkler system….whatever that meant. It was about one in the afternoon, and Lola expected that Clyde should be over by now. She probably didn't have to worry about Clyde, he was Lincoln's best friend, and definitely not in on the secret. However, she still wanted to spend time with him. Besides, Lynn had suggested that she find ways to be around him as much as possible.

"I'm sure I can think of something." She said as she walked out of her room.

Downstairs, she found the two boys on the couch. They were playing a racing video game of some kind. To Lola, it looked loud and obnoxious, but for one reason or another, her brother absolutely loved to play video games. _"Whatever it takes."_ She thought as she headed over and sat next to Lincoln on the couch.

"Oh hey Lola, what's going on?" Lincoln said, quickly takings his eyes off the game to acknowledge her.

"Not much, just finished a tea party with Lana." She replied. "Now I'm looking for things to do."

"Care to join us?" Clyde said with a smile. "We're mid race now, but we can give you a controller after the next lap."

"I don't know, I've never played one of these before." She said. "I'll probably be pretty awful at it."

"Don't let that bother you, it's about having fun." Lincoln said. "And you have me and Clyde to teach you, so you have nothing to worry about."

Lincoln made a convincing argument. Though in Lola's mind, he didn't really have to make a big argument to keep her around.

"Alright. I suppose I can give it a try." She said as she accepted the controller.

"That's the spirit!" Lincoln said. "Just wait and see, you'll have a blast."

Lola looked at the contraption in her hand. It's design made no sense to her. It was round and had two legs sticking out to be gripped. There were six buttons to the right, a cross shaped thing on the right, and above that was this large round thing. The back housed these spring loaded thingies. It was like she was holding a piece of alien technology.

Once the race started, she frantically pressed every button to try and get her car moving. It didn't help her much though. The car was completely stationary, and she quickly fell into last place. Seeing she was in distress, Lincoln scooted closer to her and started explaining things.

"See this button on the right? That's called a trigger. You hold that down to move your car, and you steer using this joystick right here."

As he explained, Lola started getting the hang of it. She was still messing up and crashing into almost every wall, but it was starting to be fun. She managed to make it into fifth place before the race ended.

"Nice comeback Lola, just imagine if you did that well at the beginning of the race!" Lincoln said encouragingly. "And you'll only get better as we go on."

Lola smiled. She may not get the point to video games, but in this setting, seeing her big brother proud of her as she made progress, she loved them. The three played for about an hour and to Lola's amazement, she won the last race.

"I-I won!" She shouted. She couldn't believe it, somehow she had managed to defeat every computer controlled racer, Clyde, and Lincoln combined. She turned and saw both boys clapping for her.

"Congrats! You're a total natural." Clyde said.

"I am?" Lola replied.

"Of course." Lincoln said. "Lola Loud is a natural at everything." He added.

Looking at his watch, Clyde had to excuse himself. He needed to go clothing shopping with his dads. Once Lincoln showed him out, he turned back to Lola.

"I know you probably have other things to do, but…." He started.

"But?"

"But would you like to play some more games?" Lincoln rubbed the back of his neck. "None of our sisters ever play with me, and it's really fun."

Lola looked at him and smiled. "Sure thing Linky, sure thing."

Lincoln smiled back and sat down next to her again. The two continued to play random video games for the remainder of the day.

* * *

 **I finally figured out a general narrative and the direction I want this story to take. So I can move forward confident that this is in-fact a story and not some on the fly rambling. As such, this was the first chapter that has been entirely considered in advance.**

 **I also took the time to create a simple cover for it. It probably gives off the wrong impression of the story, but eh, whatever.**

 **Bonus points to anyone who can accurately guess what controller she is holding. It isn't an obscure one, but it also isn't a particularly well known controller either. It _is_ , however, an optional controller from my favorite game console and one that I had just so happened to use to play a racing game the day before I wrote this. Which is the only reason why I included it here.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - To Keep Another Happy

* * *

"Alright, the coast is clear." Lola said quietly as she surveyed the front yard. This was her daily routine. Every morning she would scout the bus stop to make sure no one suspicious was waiting to approach Lincoln as he made his way to the school bus. Two weeks had passed since Lynn first revealed the "truth" to her, and she took her new role as Lincoln's protector very serious.

Lola and Lana's first grade class started an hour later than Lincoln's, so they usually got a ride to school. This gave Lola a lot of anxiety. She could ensure no one would be waiting for him before or after school, but there was no way to know if someone were to find Lincoln while he arrived at the school yard.

" _It's ok Lola, the school staff would never allow someone to take a child off the campus without evidence."_ She kept telling herself. It was something that Lisa had told here when she asked how kidnapping worked. She didn't put much stock in it, but that was still the only thing she had to comfort herself in between Lincoln's commute.

Lola pulled out a pocket sized notebook and checked off the first square. This was her daily schedule.

 **1 - check bus stop**

 **2 - watch during recess**

 **3 - be in the front yard "playing" when he arrives home**

 **4 - Monitor all forms of outside activity**

 **5 - Have fun with Linky**

Step four was always the hardest one. Lola would have to find good reasons to tag along with Lincoln whenever he went out. If it was a family outing, it was easy. She would be automatically included. However, outings with Clyde were extremely difficult, she had only successfully found excuses to join them two of the six times they had hung out.

The most difficult however, was when Lincoln went shopping. It was probably an unknown activity for the rest of the family, but Lola had caught onto it ever since she started paying more attention to him. Every other day he would go off to go buy something. She never knew what it was, but he would always return home with paper bags. She would have loved to follow him, but he always says he wants to be alone when he does it.

"Just what does he buy…." Lola said with a ponder. As she walked up the stairs, she heard the sound of her other siblings getting ready to leave for school. "Oh well, that isn't very important."

Lola had just entered her room to grab her backpack when she heard a commotion.

"What gives bro! You didn't take out our trash last night!" Luna said in an angry tone.

"I'd really hate to rubbish it in, but I have to agree." Luan added. "HAHAHA,get it?"

Luna groaned at the pun before drilling back into Lincoln. "You have one simple task in this house man, I do my part. It's totally bogus that you can't do yours."

"I'm sorry, I had a lot of homework and it completely slipped my mind.

"You know the rules bro, if you don't do your chores, you get grounded." Luna said. "I'll let you off the hook this time, but don't go messing around again."

Lola started gritting her teeth from behind her door. _"What kind of chill sister resorts to petty threats?!"_ She thought as her anger started to fume. Lincoln had an honest reason for not doing the task, and Luna should have been more understanding. She was usually the "cool" one right? It may have seemed like a harmless exchange to some others, but to Lola, this was a grave offense. Lincoln was hers, No one was going to get her Lincoln grounded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her notebook again.

"Lola, are you ready yet?" Lori called from from downstairs.

She quickly scribbled down a new addition to her daily schedule.

 **6 - GET LUNA!**

"Coming~" Lola said in a happy tone as she walked out of her room.

After school, Lola stood in the front yard and brushed her hair. When questioned about it by Lana, she claimed that brushing your hair in the sun was a new technique she learned. That of course could not have been farther from the truth. She was actually paying close attention to ever passerby.

There was a woman with long black hair walking a dog. A man with red hair taking a jog. Some people she recognized, some she did not. Regardless, they were all untrustworthy. Any one of them could take Lincoln away.

Lola turned her gaze to the other side of the street. A couple were walking hand in hand. The woman started looking directly at Lola. Noticing this, Lola glared at her.

" _Just keep walking lady, there's nothing here for you."_ She thought as she watched them. The woman got a uneasy look on her face and started moving faster. Lola let out a sigh of relief. This was a difficult job, and it never got any easier. But it had to be done. Not long after that, Lynn came home.

"Are you out here again?" She asked as she walked up the driveway.

"Of course." Lola replied. She reached into a bag she had next to her and pulled out a protein bar and a sports drink. "Did you have a good day?"

Lynn graciously accepted the food. The reason for Lola's sudden kindness towards her had completely slipped her mind, but it saved her time from getting her after school snack and going off to practice. "Meh, it was typical."

"A typical day is better than a bad one." Lola replied, still keeping her watch.

Lynn took a swig from the sports drink. "How was yours?"

"More or less the same, but we did have a spelling test."

"UGH, I hate those things." Lynn groaned. "They always set up so there's a trick question on them." She shrugged at the memory of her last spelling test. Everyone used computers now anyway, so why should it matter to her if she couldn't spell "facilitate" correctly? Autocorrect would fix it for her.

"Eh, you get used to them. Are you off to practice today?"

"Yep, got basketball in twenty." Lynn said happily. "What's your plan?"

"Not sure yet, I'm gonna see what L-" Lola got caught off by the sound of Luna returning from school.

"Good afternoon fam." She said.

"Hey Luna." Lynn replied.

Lola looked at her angrily for a second, but quickly swallowed it. "...Hi" Lola said, a slight tinge of disgust in her voice.

"I'm gonna grab my guitar. See you dudes later." Luna walked off into the house. As Lola watcher her, she tightened her grip on the hairbrush.

"Anyway, I should get going too." Lynn said. "Later Lola!"

Lola turned back and waved her off with a smile. "Have a fun time." In a house full of despicable liars, it was nice to have an ally that could understand the situation. Lola had started to ignore all of her sisters other than Lana and Lynn.

Lana was her twin, they spend so much time together that there was no way she could lose trust in her. Not long after being told the truth about Lincoln, Lola fished to see if Lana knew anything. It became obvious quickly that she knew nothing. Lola didn't flat out tell her because it would have probably freaked her out just as bad. Lynn was honest to her from the beginning and served as her ally whenever she needed advice. She wasn't the best at this, but it was better than nothing.

Well Lola was watching Lynn ride off on her bike, Lincoln came up from behind her.

"Hey Lola, what are you up to?" He said.

Lola jumped a little. She hadn't expected him to be home yet. "Oh nothing, just watching Lynn leave."

Lincoln was about to say something else, but an angry scream stopped him.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

"What was that?!" Lincoln said in shock. He rushed passed Lola and went into the house. Lola grinned mischievously as she followed him.

The two found Luna at the top of the stairs. She was kneeling down, cradling her beloved guitar in her arms. Lincoln tried walking closer to her, but she lashed out at him.

"WAS IT YOU?!" She yelled.

"Was it me what?" He replied.

"Was it you who glued the guitar strings to my frets!"

Luna lifted her guitar and showed them. All six strings were directly attached to the each fret, large blobs of dried residue could be seen surrounding them.

"No, there's no way it could have been me!" Lincoln said frantically. He wasn't used to getting such wild accusations thrown at him.

"Oh yeah, you sure you weren't just angry about this morning!" Luna argued, her eyes fuming with anger.

"No, I honestly forgot all about that." Lincoln defended. "I would never harm your guitar, I know how much you love that thing!"

Luna quickly changed her gaze to Lola. "What about you?!"

"Please, I would never risk getting glue on my dress." Lola scoffed.

"Whatever, I don't have time for this!"

Luna threw her guitar into her gig bag and darted the stairs and out the door. They weren't 100% sure where she was going, but it probably was somewhere that could lead to a potential repair.

"Man, that's really awful, someone must have been _really_ mad to do something like that." Lincoln said as he looked at the open door.

"Just let it go Lincoln." Lola replied. "Whatever sister she scorned wanted payback, and it isn't worth either of us getting into it."

"I guess you're right."

Lola grinned. Her revenge was working perfectly. No one would ever consider her or Lincoln as the one responsible. And since she removed all glue from the house ahead of time, there was no evidence to condemn a culprit.

" _That'll teach her to threaten my Linky!"_ She said internally.

Lincoln and Lola parted ways and went into their respective rooms. Lola wanted to spend more time with him, but she knew he was probably tired. Oh well, she could always pass time adjusting her makeup. She had just finished her masquera when she noticed the sound of birds from outside.

"Hm...the park sounds pretty nice right about now." Lola thought out loud. "If anything, it will give me something fun to do while Lincoln rests."

She got out of her makeup chair and walked over to Lori and Leni's room. She didn't want to have to go to them, but Leni was the only other older sibling home, and she needed someone to escort her. Lola knocked on the door, and it quickly opened.

"Hi Lola, what's going on?" Leni asked.

"I was wondering if you could take me to the park." She replied.

"Sure Thin-"

"WAIT!" Lana shouted.

The bathroom door flew open and a very dirty twin popped out.

"I need to go to the hardware store in the mall." She said. "We have a major clog going on right now and I do _not_ have the tools to take care of it."

Lola rolled her eyes. "Can't that wait?"

Lana looked back at her blankly. "Do you want to be able to use the toilet in the foreseeable future?"

"...yeah?"

"Then no, it can't."

"Well, due to the distance, we can only go to one before curfew." Leni interjected.

The two twins glared at each other and started to argue. Both had good arguments for why they should get to go where they wanted, and neither was willing to compromise. Arguments between the two a trademark at this point. And no one wanted to be caught up in the middle of one.

Lincoln popped his head out of his room and called over. "Hey Leni, what's going on?"

"Oh, Lola wants to go to the park, and Lana wants to go to the mall." Leni replied. "We can only do one."

The two began to have a conversation over the bickering of their younger siblings.

"Well, which would you rather do?"

Leni put her finger to her chin. "Hm….probably the mall, I can always do with a new skirt."

Lincoln let of a pleasant sigh. "Alright, then you take Lana to the mall and I'll take Lola to the park."

Lana stopped arguing and perked up. "Great idea Lincoln, let's go Leni." She grabbed Leni by the hand and lead her away.

"That's settled then, ready to go Lola?"

Lola looked up at Lincoln. "Are you sure you want to?" She asked. "Weren't you tired?"

Lincoln tossed his hand. "Eh, maybe a little, but the park seems like the perfect remedy for that."

Lola smiled and agreed with him. The two walked out and made their way to the nearby park.

It was roughly 4:30 in the afternoon. The sun was still shining bright and the weather was fine. This made their short walk to the nearby park as pleasant as possible.

When they arrived at the park, the sat down on a grassy hill and took in the view. Public parks are always such wonderful things. They're a small patch of nature that always has a sense of "freedom" surrounding them. People of all walks of life go through them. The rich, the homeless, the young, and the old. In many ways, they are the perfect pieces of utopia found in all forms of urban life. And the emotions one can feel in a park are second to none. There's a special form of liberation to the senses, that leads to the most heartfelt of discourse with the most casual of mentalities.

Having caught into this feeling, Lola started to worry about the potential repercussions her actions could have on Lincoln.

"Are you worried that Luna might actually try to get you grounded?" She asked.

Lincoln shrugged. "It's possible, but I'm not too worried about it." He replied.

'Why is that?"

"I trust Luna." Lincoln said. "I know she would do the right thing."

"But what if she doesn't know what the right thing is?"

"Then she at least did what she believed was the right thing, how could I be angry at someone who did wrong out of misbelief?"

Lola thought about that. It was true that Luna could think that Lincoln did the retaliation instead of her. But Lincoln's willingness to just accept the punishment for it didn't make sense.

"So, you're willing to get punished for something you didn't do?"

"If it stops another one of our sisters from getting hurt, then it's worth it." Lincoln looked at Lola. "She accused you as well didn't she?" He asked.

"Yeah?" Lola replied.

"If I get grounded out of this, it will definitely suck." He said. "But that means you can continue to have fun and continue as you've been, and that would make the punishment worth it."

That hit Lola right in the heart. Her eyes started to burn a little. Lincoln was so innocent and caring that he was willing to take the fall for the person just to keep another happy. He truly was the perfect brother.

"What if I do wrong, but I thought it was right?" She asked. "Would you still stick up for me in the end?"

"Psh, do you even need to ask that?" Lincoln said with a smug tone.

"No, I guess not." Lola said, beginning to get red.

As they talked, her gaze turned to a couple talking a walk in the distance. Lola couldn't tell for sure, but it seemed like they were coming towards Lincoln.

" _No, not now!"_ She thought. She watched as they got closer and closer. _"Think fast Lola, FAST!"_ They were about fifty feet away, and walking on the pathway. Even if they stuck to the pavement, they would still have to pass Lincoln and her, who were sitting just a few feet away from the sidewalk.

Getting frantic, Lola did the one thing she could think of. "Surprise attack!: She shouted as she jumped out at tackled Lincoln.

"WHOA!" He yelped.

Within seconds, Lola realized that she hadn't thought through the idea thoroughly enough. They tumbled down the hill, rolling down in each other's arms. At first it was horrifying, but after a while, it started to tickle. Eventually they came to a soft landing at the bottom of the hill. The two laid out next to each other and started laughing.

"HAHAHA, where did that come from?" Lincoln said as he caught his breath.

"No idea, it just seemed fun." She replied, also out of breath.

"I've never seen this side of you Lola."

Lola smiled at Lincoln. "What can I say, Lola Loud is full of surprises.

Lincoln laughed at that and then sat up. "Come on, there's still enough time."

"For what?" Lola asked.

"You showed me a secret side of you, so I'll show you a secret side of me." He replied.

He took Lola by the hand and lead her into town. Lola looked around with curiosity. Where were they headed? What was this mysterious side to her brother she hadn't been aware of. Finally, the two stopped in front of this shabby looking building.

"What's up with this place?" Lola asked.

"It's a second hand store." Lincoln said. "I came upon it a few months back and I really liked seeing all the old stuff that comes in here. Before I knew it I became a regular customer."

Lola raised an eyebrow. "That's annoyingly retro." She said.

Lincoln chuckled. "I figured you'd say that." He looked back at the shop. "Actually, I've been so worried about how I would be treated if this hobby got out that I've been hiding it from everyone, even Clyde doesn't know about this."

"Really?" Lola looked at her brother in amazement. How was he able to hide something from everyone? Their family was so large and so keen on picking up tiny details that nothing got passed them.

"Yep, you are the first and only person I have ever trust with this secret." He said with a smile. "Consider it as proof of my trust in you."

"Even though I'm bad at keeping secrets?"

"That's true, but I'll take the risk on this one."

The two shared another laugh together and walked in. It was an odd shop filled with all shorts of bizarre things from decades passed, but there was something more important that Lola found inside that shop. Her brother's smile. It was bigger and brighter than she had ever seen before. He clearly loved looking at this old junk. It truly was another side to him. A special side that was just for her to cherish and no one else.

After thirty minutes, they departed. Lincoln carrying a paper bag with him. Inside it were some vintage comic books he had picked out.

"So _that's_ what was in those bags you're always carrying!" She said teasingly.

Lincoln's eyes grew wide. "Oh, you noticed them?" He asked.

"Yep." Lola said blankly. "I doubt it would be hard for anyone who pays attention to you."

"Well then I'm glad I chose to share with the person who pays attention." Lincoln said happily."

"I'm glad you shared it with me too Linky." Lola replied. "I'm glad you shared it too."

The mood between the two siblings was as perfect as the scene outside as they walked home together.

* * *

 **This chapter was extremely odd for me. I could not for the life of me figure out an actual way to sabotage a guitar. I googled it for days and all I found was an IGN thread from 2011 that didn't do much for me. So I just picked glue. I wanted something that wouldn't severely damage the instrument, but I don't know how "evil" this actually was because I had never owned or played a guitar in my life. I say "had" because in the process of doing that research, I somehow navigated to an instrument website and randomly wound up buying an electric guitar. So $800 later and this chapter is officially the most expensive thing I have ever written. On the bright side, I may actually learn how to play an instrument. Who knows.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 - All's Fair in Love and War

* * *

"What did the root say when his plan failed?" Luan asked.

"I dunno, what?" Lori asked, barely taking attention away from her cellphone.

"It looks like the tides have turniped. HAHA" Luan laughed. "Get it? _Turnip_?"

Lori let out a heavily groan. "Good one Luan."

"Thanks. I'd like to say coming up with gold like this was difficult, but they just come to me."

If was Friday afternoon in the Loud house, and the majority of the family members were off doing their own thing. Leni was out shopping with friends, Lynn was off playing ball somewhere, Lisa was plotting a new scheme to get into the library undetected(she claimed it had to do with fines or something, no one was really sure what was going on) and Lucy was off digging a grave somewhere. The only family members in the living room were Lori, Luan, and Lola, who was blankly staring at the tv.

"Hey Lola, I got a great one for ya." Luan said, giggling at the very thought of telling her joke.

Lola didn't respond.

"Hey Lola, I said I got a joke for you." Luan repeated. But again, Lola just continued to stare at the tv.

Luan turned and looked at the screen. It was a standard home shopping channel. The presenters were selling some sort of stain remover that most definitely wouldn't work as well as it did on the show.

"Alright Lola, I know for a fact you're not paying attention to something this boring, so pay attention to my joke!" She said, her annoyment highly audible.

"Can we just skip to the part where you laugh and I groan?" Lola replied.

"...What?" Luan said, unsure of how to process her sister's comment.

"We both know I didn't stutter, I take speech lessons to up my pageant game."

"Hmpf, there's no need to be rude." Luan said, more than a little angry. "It's not my fault you lack taste."

"Oh please, you're the one wear a scrunchie and I lack taste?" Lola mocked.

Luan fired back. "At least this scrunchie has a practical value to it, unlike your cheap plastic tiara!" Noticing a reaction, she decided to press the insult further. "It's not even cute when you wear it, it's just pompous."

Lola started fuming. "What did you say?!"

Luan formed a smug grin. "We both know I didn't stutter, that's not my brand of comedy."

Noticing that the situation could turn hostile at any moment, Lori decided to step in. "Hey, hey, easy you two. There's no need for bloodshed over hair accessories."

"Well she's the one who started it by not listening to my joke!" Luan argued.

"Maybe she just wasn't in the mood for laughing." Lori replied.

"Is anyone in the mood for laughing when she tells a joke?" Lola snarked.

Thankfully for her, Lori was there to take hold of Luan's wrist as a preventative measure.

"What is with you lately Lola? You've been unusually distant and lashing out at everyone." Lori asked.

"I've been normal, you all have just been increasingly annoying."

"Well, things have been...difficult lately." Lori sighed. "I mean with my shampoo being tampered with, Luna's guitar fiasco, that time Lisa's glasses were covered with the permanent marker-"

"AND?" Luan aggressively uttered.

Lori sighed again. "And that time someone boiled Luan's props in the pot on the stove."

Lola looked over to Luan. She had a very angry expression on her face. That had happened almost a month ago. Luan had tricked Lincoln into polishing all of her props for nothing in exchange for a box of cookie dough. Even remembering that pun made Lola cringe. But at the time she was furious that someone would take advantage of Lincoln like that, so retaliation was necessary.

"I don't see how any of that is relevant." Lola said.

"It's relevant because right now we're all a little on edge." Lori replied. "So we should be acting more sisterly instead of pulling at each other's teeth like wild animals."

"So you're telling me you won't be furious with whoever ruined your long awaited date with Bobby by putting the baby oil in your hair?" Luan asked.

Lori's expression soured. "Oh no. The person responsible for that is going to pay dearly." Lori punched her palm, here eyes showing killing intent. "But until we can prove who did that, we should all try to get along. Love now, blood later."

"Just like the bipolar hippie!" Luan said happily.

Both Lori and Lola looked at her with a confused expression.

"You know, because he makes love and then war, get it?" Luan laughed while the other two groaned.

"That's a sweet and all, but I don't really see a need to get all buddy buddy." Lola said. "None of my stuff has gotten ruined."

"Typical, only acting caring when it benefits you." Luan sneered.

"Alright, I've had enough of this!" Lori shouted. "You two are coming with me." She grabbed Lola and Luan by the wrist and starting dragging them to the doorway.

"Where are we going?" Lola asked.

"Somewhere where you two can learn to get along." Lori replied.

"I hope it's a race, because this is going to be a drag." Luan said with a chuckle. "But seriously, let's not do this."

"Just shut up and get in the van. Both of you."

Lincoln was just getting home as Lori reached the van.

"Hey guys, what are you up to?" he asked.

"Save me, this crazy lady is trying to coerce me into her van on the insistence of a loving time this chimp!" Luan exclaimed.

"Hey, who are you calling chimp?!" Lola yelled.

As the two started going at each other again, Lori turned her attention to her brother. "These two are having an episode, so I'm making an executive decision and forcing them to get along."

"Well good luck with that!" Lincoln said awkwardly as he tried to flee.

"Hold it Lincoln." Lori said. "I could use your help, these two are literally a handful."

"I was afraid you'd say that." Lincoln signed. But looking at the situation, he couldn't just let his sisters continue to be in a situation like this. "Alright, I'll come along." He walked over and took Lola's hand from Lori.

"I thought you were spending the afternoon at Clyde's house?" Lola asked.

"I was, but his dad's wanted him to do something, so we had to end early." He replied.

Lola almost instantly calmed down. She was still angry at Luan, but she couldn't let Lincoln see her like that. She knew he had been looking forward to today, so she didn't want to make a already unpleasant turn of events become an even bigger burden on him.

"I'm sorry about that, but hopefully we can have fun wherever Lori takes us." She said.

"If we can get all along, it should be fine." He said with a smile.

" _What a dirty trick."_ Lola thought. He probably meant nothing by it, but to her it almost seemed like he knew she would want to make him happy. Though she hated being around any of the sisters she had labeled as liars, she would do it if it made Lincoln happy.

Once they were all settled into the van, Lori began to drive. At first, they thought they were headed to the mall, but when they passed it, it was clear that wasn't the case.

After about ten minutes, Lincoln spoke up. "Hey Lori, were exactly are you taking us?"

Lori smiled smugly. "Don't worry, you three will see when we get there."

"Well that doesn't insight much confidence." Luan replied.

Lola bit her tongue. She wanted to make a quip about how nothing Luan said insighted confidence in anyone, but she had to be on her best behavior around Lincoln. "Well whatever it is, it better be worth the vagueness." She said.

"It will be." Lori said. "Just watch the road, you'll catch on eventually."

"In the meantime, can one of you explain what happened to prompt all of this?" Lincoln asked.

"I guess it _is_ awkward if you don't know." Lori scoffed. "Are you two going to tell him, or should I?"

Both Luan and Lola stayed silent. A look of guilt being painted their faces.

"Well?" Lori said.

"It was my fault." Luan said. "I was telling jokes when Lola didn't want to be bothered. I didn't take too kindly to that."

Lola clenched her fist.

" _How dare you act like the bigger person!"_ She thought. _"Typical liar behavior trying to get sympathy from someone as sweet as Linky."_

"No, it was my fault. I was being rude." Lola said. "Sorry Luan, I shouldn't have insulted your hair."

"Thanks, but that doesn't excuse me from insulting yours back." Luan replied.

Lincoln laughed. "Is that really all this was about? Hair?"

The van came to a sudden halt. Lincoln looked around and saw all three of his sisters glaring at him with killing intent.

"I-a I mean, I'm glad you could both makeup?" He said nervously.

Not fully satisfied with his rebuttal, Lori started driving again.

" _Geez, I really pushed a nerve there."_ He though.

After twenty minutes of driving, Lincoln noticed something peeking over some trees in the distance. It was a large round object with lights all around it. There was no mistaking it, that was a ferris wheel.

"Oh man, are we going to the fall carnival?!" He said happily.

"Bingo." Lori replied.

"No way, how are we gonna afford it?" Luan asked.

"Yeah, mom and dad said we couldn't go this year because of the cost." Lola added.

"Don't worry, I have a secret stash I was saving for a situation like this." Lori said. "Just don't tell the others I took you guys here, that'll cause some serious problems."

"You got it Lori, it'll be our secret!" Lincoln said.

"Agreed!" Luan cheered.

"Ok." Lola said.

She was happy that she was going go visit the carnival, but something about Lori hiding money and taking the three of them out behind the other's backs seemed off to her. Why is it so easy for her family members to keep things from each other like this? It seemed like every other word they said was a lie. Maybe that's why it was so simple for them to lie to her about Lincoln, because all they ever do is lie.

That thought made Lola even angrier. Clearly Lori and Luan were even scummier than anticipated. She would have to keep a closer distance from them.

When they arrived to the carnival, Lori walked up to the ticket counter and bought four bracelets. She handed one to each of her siblings, and they went in.

"What should we do first gang?" Lincoln said in an excited tone.

Lori chuckled a little. "Eager, aren't we Lincoln?"

"You bet I am, we haven't been to a carnival in ages!"

"Why don't we let Luan and Lola decide on everything we do?" Lori said. "We are here for them after all."

With the weight of the entire day on their shoulders, Lola and Luan started thinking hard.

"How about we take turns choosing?" Luan suggested.

"That works for me, let's use a coin toss to decide who goes first." Lola replied. "But let's get the coin from someone other than you, I don't want to risk it being double sided."

Luan started to laugh. "I can't knock you for your skepticism, but double sided coins are more of a magician thing."

"Here, I think I have a quarter…" Lincoln said as he reached into his pocket. After some fiddling around, he produced a slightly corroded coin and handed it to Luan.

"It's a little gross, but it'll have to do." Lola said.

"And I thought the point of someone else providing the coin was to avoid dirty money, haha. Get it?" Luan joked.

The three of them sighed. "Unfortunately we do." Lori replied.

"What do you call Lola?" Lincoln asked.

"I'll take tails."

"Then I guess I'll get a _head_ in this flip!" Luan said, causing more groans from the others. She tossed the coin in the air with a satisfying flick of her thumb. It spun rapidly before landing on the ground, face up.

"That's heads, looks like Luan goes first." Lori said.

"Drat!" Lola shouted.

"Alright team Loud, let's head to the Wave Swinger!" Luan cheered as she took the lead.

"Don't fret Lola, you're picking the next one." Lincoln said with a shrug. Lola smiled and took Lincoln's hand as they followed the others.

The day itself went by faster than they realized. They darted from ride to ride. Game to game. The Loud's usual brand of mayhem suited the carnival experience extremely well. Lori used her expert aiming skills to beat almost every carnie game they came across. Luan found an open mic contest and won a ribbon for comedy. Lincoln found some Ace Savvy collectables at the exhibitor hall, which pleased him greatly. Even Lola was able to relax and enjoy herself. She figured that they were so far away from Royal Woods at this point, and there were so many people, that no one would be a threat to Lincoln in this environment. Most of the people would be tourists from other towns anyway.

"Alright, let's go to the Ferris Wheel next!" Luan said as she pointed to the large ride.

"How do you still have energy?" Lori asked. "We've literally been running around for hours."

"I dunno, probably all the food we've eaten." She replied. "I mean, it's been nothing but deep fried sugar and fat."

"Ugh, don't remind me."

As they moved closer to the front of the line, something became apparent. A ferris wheel cabin is only a two seater.

"Looks like we'll have to split up for this one." Lincoln said.

"Yeah, that appears to be the case….Luan, you go with Lola." Lori said.

"Why?" Lola whined.

"Because you two are supposed to be getting along here."

"Fine!"

Lola and Luan got in one cabin with Lincoln and Lori getting i the one behind them. To say the mood between the two was awkward would have been an understatement. For the first few minutes, they didn't say a word to each other. But it was a ten minute ride, so someone had to speak up eventually.

"Today has been fun, hasn't it?" Luan asked.

"Yeah, I've enjoyed it." Lola replied.

"Though I do feel a little guilty since we're doing all of this behind everyone's back."

"Eh, you'll live."

Lola rested her a cheek on her palm. She didn't want to discuss guilt or betrayal with Luan. She was more annoyed in losing Lincoln to Lori. he was supposed to be hers to protect and Lori split them up.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Lola asked.

"Who?"

"Lincoln and Lori, think it's anything interesting?"

"Hm...If I had to guess, I would say they're probably talking about us."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Lola, you aren't that dense. We are only here because Lori was trying to form some sort of olive branch between us, and she roped Lincoln into it just to have backup." Luan started. "So of course they're discussing if their efforts have been paying off or not."

Lola thought for a second. "Well, _have_ they been paying off?"

"I don't know, maybe?" Luan put her finger to her lip. "I guess it has since we're talking normally. I just…." Luan started clenching her first. "I just get so angry when I think of what's been happening around the house to all of our stuff. One of us is to blame, and believe me, I am NOT going to be happy when I figure out who it is."

"Well, maybe whoever is doing it has a good reason for it." Lola said. "I wouldn't think too hard on things like that."

"I don't care about the reason, I want justice!"

" _It IS justice you hypocrite"_ Lola thought with disgust.

"Look, I don't care for this topic. Let's just act buddy buddy when we get off this thing and call it day." Lola said.

"Fine by me." Luan replied. "Just don't come whining to me if something of yours gets ruined."

" _Something of mine?"_ Lola had things she treasured and cared about. But lately none of that had mattered as much as one thing in particular. _"If you guys wouldn't be ruining something of mine, none of those things would have happened!"_ Lincoln was hers, and he was all she cared about. She needed to protect him from the "sisters" that were planning to sell him out as soon as his real parents came into the picture.

"Is that a threat?" Lola asked.

"No, but does the concept threaten you?"

"Why would it? I can manage my simple possessions just fine."

'Whatever you say sis, whatever you say.

Lola let out a sigh of relief when they finally got off the ferris wheel. _"That was the longest ten minutes ever!"_ She thought as she waited for Lori and Lincoln to get off as well. Once the four were reunited, they had a quick decision to make. There was only a half an hour left before they needed to head home to avoid suspicion. Lori had the genius idea of going by the movie theatre to collect old ticket stubs from the trash can to make it look like they were at a movie this whole time. With so little time, it was pretty much a given that only one activity at most could be done. As they were discussing their options, a voice called out over a microphone.

"Ladies and gentleman, step right up for the world famous fall carnival juggling contest, winner gets a special grand prize!"

Luan's eyes lit up. "No way, I gotta enter that." She exclaimed. "There's no way I can lose!"

"Luan, you picked the last thing we did." Lori said.

"I know, but come on, I had no idea this was gonna happen!" She pleaded.

Lori looked over to Lincoln. "I'm gonna go over there with Luan, you and Lola can do something else. Let's meet back here before we leave."

"Sure thing, good luck." He replied.

They watched Luan dash off into the crowd, Lori trying to keep up with her while simultaneously attempting to avoid bumping into innocent bystanders.

"Well, what should we do then?" Lola asked. "I don't think there's anything else we can do that I would enjoy."

"You sure?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah, we already did the stuff I like, why don't you decide?"

Lincoln and Lola started walking around. They couldn't seem to find anything that the two of them could enjoy together that they hadn't already done. They were about to give up when Lincoln spotted something in the distance.

"I go it!" He shouted.

"What?"

"Just trust me."

He grabbed Lola by the hand and dragged her off. When he finally stopped to catch his breath, they were in front of a large circle of people, a giant sign saying "folk dance" hanging over them.

"A folk dance, really?" Lola said with a confused tone. "Why'd you bring us here?"

"Oh come on, it'll be fun." He replied. "Besides, neither of us have done this before, so one of us won't look at more stupid than the other."

"That's not a very convincing argument."

"Oh come on, you know you want to give it a try."

"Do I want to give it a try, or do you?"

"I don't see why both answers can't be true."

Lola let out a sigh. "Alright, you convinced me, let's do this." The truth was that she _did_ want to try it, but she was much too prideful to admit that to anyone.

They made their way into the circle and started imitating what the other people were doing. They looked ridiculous, but that only made them laugh at each other. The music was even goofier than the dance moves, there was definitely a charm to this sort of thing, even if it couldn't be properly explained.

As they danced about, Lincoln started asking Lola some questions.

"So, have you had a good time today?"

"Yeah, today was fun." She said with a smile. "But I think this is probably the most fun part."

"Yeah, and why is that?"

"Because seeing you move like a broken puppet is hilarious."

They both started laughing. They may not have originally gone there for the best of reasons, but it definitely turned into a great moment.

" _Maybe taking revenge on Luan wasn't such a bad thing after all."_ Lola thought as she continued to dance.

* * *

 **Sorry this took so long to come out, I was insanely busy. And when I wasn't busy, I was caught up with all the random other hobbies I picked up in the process of writing this. Learning guitar is WAY more physically painful than I would have thought. My fingers were so shot that I couldn't type for like 3 days.  
The next chapter will come much faster than this one did, I promise.**

 **And yes, the title of this chapter is a pun exclusively because Luan is prominent in this chapter. Next one will feature Lucy more, a character I have almost entirely ignored**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - The Changing Seasons

* * *

Lola let out a tired sigh. She was reclining in a lawn chair in the backyard. She gave a drowsy look over to a multicolored leaves that colored the lawn like a patchwork cloth as they slowly danced about in the autumn breeze.

"The wind sure is picking up these days." She said to herself. "It'll probably start to get colder soon." That thought made her groan. She'd spent a large amount of time outside ever since she started watching over Lincoln. It was up to her to keep his heart warm, and that job would become a lot more difficult if it was cold everywhere else.

As Lola watched the leaves, she started reflecting on her actions for the past few months. Was any of it really worth it? She had gone out of her way to make sure Lincoln was never alone, she patrolled the hallways at night and in the morning to make sure no one snuck into his room, and she hostilely protected him from any adult to ensure that none of them were his real parents. Lincoln himself hadn't changed in any noticeable way. But was that truly her doing, or was it just him being him.

A bigger gust blew up, causing a shower of leaves to rain down. Several of them landing on her dress. "Ugh!" Lola grunted and she brushed them off. "I can't for all of these stupid leaves to be gone." As she plucked the last one off of her dress, she noticed that it had two colors. Half of it was a bright yellow, but the other was grayish. Probably bleached by the sun. It reminded her of Lincoln and herself. Lola chuckled a little as she tossed it into the wind. All of her doubts flew away along with it. Whether or not her protection served any real purpose, it still allowed her to spend more time with him than ever before. And that alone made the whole thing worth it.

"AHHHHH, MY SKIRTS!" Leni shouted from inside the house. Lola laid back in the chair, her head resting comfortably on her arms. The sound of her older sister's shriek caused her to grow a wicked grin.

"I guess there are two benefits to all of this." She said as she closed her eyes. Two days prior, Leni had found a memento from the carnival in Lincoln's backpack. When pressed for info, he told her that he went alone with Clyde. It was certainly like Lincoln to take the fall for his other sisters, but that also meant he had to suffer through an hour and a half worth of yelling and resentment from the rest of the family. That didn't settle well with Lola. She spent two days waiting for the perfect time to pull this strike. And it was a exhausting one at that. She cut holes in every polka dot on every one of Levi's beloved skirts. It was a simple act, but judging by the sound of things, it was more than effective.

Lola was just about to doze off when she was interrupted.

"I take it you're out here to avoid the latest drama show?" Said a monotonous voice.

"I came out here to nap before that happened, missing this episode is an added bonus." She replied. "What's bring you out here, Lucy?"

Lucy dragged another lawn chair over and sat down next to Lola. "I was planning on collecting some leaves to decorate a grave. Fall is the best time of year for that."

"Well there's no shortage of those out here, pay no attention to me." Lola turned on her side, showing her back to Lucy.

"I think I'll hold off on that until she stops lying." Lucy started twiddling her thumbs. "So, did you read any more of that book I lent you?"

Lola sighed a little. Clearly she wasn't about to get any rest. She sat up and faced her sister. "I read some of those stories, but a lot of them didn't interest me."

Lucy shrugged. "That's to be expected, even I don't like all of them."

"If I'm being honest, I don't know why you would like them at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Well...They're all fairy tales with good morals and somewhat happy endings. And you're so….so bleak and dreary...no offense."

"That's more of a compliment than an insult."

"Whatever, you get my point!" Lola said angrily. "What is it that makes a you take an interest in tales like that?"

Lucy held a leaf in her hand. She gazed at it while spinning it around by the stem. "You don't need to be a bright and prissy little girl to enjoy fairy tales Lola." She said.

"True, but that doesn't explain your interest."

"My interest comes for what they tell us about the world and about ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, as a poet, I am always looking at the soul and trying to convey it's pure feelings as much as possible."

"Bleh, don't remind me."

"But even I don't have all of the answers to what the soul is like, and I'm far too young to know what the human experience really means." Lucy started slowly ripping the lead by its threads. "But those stories have a time honored interpretation of our emotions. Anger, love, hate, jealousy, fear, it's everything we can feel told in small tales that are easy to understand. I have learned a lot about myself by reading them, and my observations have heavily been inspired by some of them."

Lola gave her a skeptical look. "If that's the case, then why are you always going on about the vampire stuff?"

"Because that's the end result." Lucy said with a soft smile. "Those stores opened my eyes to emotions, and that lead me to finding my Edwin and understanding the true way of life, the goth way."

"Why on Earth would I ever want to be like that?"

"You personally won't, but that doesn't mean you won't find your own definition soon enough. And who knows, maybe one of those stories will help you define your life."

Lola thought about it. It was true, the Snow Queen story did have a heavy impact on her. It changed her outlook on how she viewed her brother, and it was through that story that she was able come to the conclusion that he had to be protected from everyone. "Eh, you may be on to something." She said.

Lucy gave another small smile. "If you think so, then I feel like I've achieved something."

Lola turned her attention to the sky. It had been a long time since she had spoken to any of her sisters in a non-hostile manner besides Lana and Lynn. She wasn't sure if she could trust Lucy yet, but at least in this moment, it seemed like just maybe she was someone that Lola could lower her guard too. Lola had been constantly tired these days. And having to worry about and enact revenge on the majority of her siblings only made things more straining on her. So any ally, no matter how small, was a very welcome thought.

"Now that you mention it, I guess one of those storied did affect me a little." Lola said.

"Really?" Lucy replied, showing some intrigue. "And which one was that?"

"That one about the Snow Queen. I don't know why...it was just...interesting." Lola may had been willing to trust Lucy a little, but she wasn't prepared to empty her entire mind out to her.

"Ah, that's a an interesting one alright." Lucy said. "What about it got to you?"

"Probably the sand getting in people's eyes and making them cruel."

Lucy laughed a little. "I figured as much. That's the fate for all of us."

"What do you mean?"

"As we get closer to death, we are all bound to get more and more cynical. It's just how our bodies work."

"But it's just a story, right?"

"Sand of the mirror is like the sands of an hourglass, and sand in the eye is like the sandman coming to put you to sleep. It's a story yes, but the metaphor remains."

"So no matter what, we are all gonna turn cruel like that?"

"More or less. But I wouldn't worry about it. Death is the true beauty in this world."

"Ok, now you're making no sense at all." Lola said, starting to get annoyed. "Dead things are all rotten and lacing in color."

"Are you so sure about that?" Lucy looked at the ground. She reached down and picked up the white and yellow leaf that Lola had held earlier. "Take this leaf for example. It's dead. Actually, it's more than dead, it died and it started to burn a little in the sun." Lucy twirled it around a little, examining it closely. "But look at the colors. It's bright yellow, and slightly whitish. There's also some spots of brown burns. It has more color and more character than any of the vivid green leaves that are still alive."

"But it's dead, there's nothing for it to do anymore." Lola said.

Lucy snickered. "You're right." She crushed the dried out leaf in her palm. "The eternal beauty of death is always masked in the tragedy of life, but that's what makes it more passionate."

Lola started to get angry. Though Lucy was unaware of it, she just inadvertently declared her relationship with Lincoln through all of this was pointless and bound to die out.

"I disagree!" She said angrily. "We can stay kind throughout our whole life, and the true beauty is found in things that are alive."

"You can think that, but does anyone really notice how good something was until it's gone?"

"Ugh, I can't stand your attitude."

"Relax, I'm just telling you how I see things."

Lola was about to respond when she noticed Leni storming up behind them. "Oh brother, this should be interesting." She said under her breath.

"YOU TWO!" Leni shouted. "Did either of you do this!" She held up a hanger to show a shirt with all numerous holes cut in it.

"Don't look at me, I was out here trying to nap all afternoon." Lola said in an uninterested voice. "Besides, you know me. Why would I ever damage someone else's clothes?"

Leni was furious, but Lola had a point, she respecting fabric too much to cause this kind of harm...that's what she thought anyway.

She turned her glare to Lucy, who kept her usual composure. "If it was me, there would be skulls in that dress." She said. "If I had to guess, it was probably Lincoln."

"Linky? What do you mean?" Leni asked.

"Well, you did reveal his carnival betrayal the other day. He has every reason to be angry with you."

Leni started turning red with anger.

"H-hey now, I'm sure he's completely innocent!" Lola said frantically.

"IF NOT HIM, THEN WHO?!"

Lola's eyes started to race. She needed to think of something. "He's not even home right now, how could it have been him?"

"He could have done it before he took off." Lucy replied.

" _You're really starting to get on my nerves here Lucy!"_ Lola thought. Time was running out and she needed to find some way to save Lincoln from suffering from her action. "It couldn't have been him because I was with him until he left." She said. This was a lie, she was cutting up the skirts while Lincoln was home.

" _This is bad, I have no idea how to get out of this one…"_

"How's it hanging everyone?" Lynn said happily as she strolled into the backyard. It was obvious by her tactless entrance that she had no knowledge of the current situation.

"YOU!" Leni shouted, pointing her finger directly at Lynn.

Lynn stared blankly at the finger. "Um….me?"

"Where have you been all day?!"

"I was uh...out?"

Leni, Lola, and Lucy all exchanged glances at each other. Making it painfully obvious to Lynn that neither of them were letting her off the hook.

"Out doing what?" Lucy asked.

"Riding my bike." She replied.

"Your bike's been leaned against that tree for the past week." Lola said, pointing to the lone bike. The amount of fallen leaves on the seat confirming her claim.

"What sort of intimidation is this anyway?!" Lynn said. "Can't a girl come home without being accused of a random crime!"

Leni gave her a puzzled look. "I didn't accuse you of anything yet."

Lynn gasped a little. "Well Uh...uh, well what did you expect me to think when you go shouting at me like that? Isn't it naturally for someone to assume an accusation is coming?" She let out an awkward chuckle, nervously hoping that Leni would be her typical self and leave her be.

"That's not like you at all." Lucy said.

"What do you mean?" Leni asked.

"Lynn never gets defensive before figuring out what she is fighting against." Lucy folded her arms. "You're hiding something."

"FINE, YOU CAUGHT ME!" Lynn said, falling to her knees. "I broke the dryer." She held her head down, expecting some form of verbal retribution. But none of it came. Confused, Lynn looked up and say three very puzzled faces staring back at her

"You, broke the dryer?" Lola said. "How did you do that?"

"I needed my cleats this morning, but i accidentally dropped them in a puddle. I threw them in there to quickly dry them, but I forgot to take the lint out. And I think the metal and rubber might have had something to do with it as well...either way it sorta caught on fire."

"You set the dryer on fire?!" Leni gasped.

"I put it out!" Lynn replied.

"How?" Lucy asked.

"I threw water on it….which caused the flame to shoot out more. But then I found the extinguisher and it all worked out!"

"You used water on an electrical fire?! You could have been killed!" Leni shouted before hugging her. "Come on, we need to go tell mom and dad right away!"

Leni dragged a very confused Lynn away.

"Do you think she'll ever figure out what she was originally being accused of?" Lucy asked. Returning to her original position on the chair.

"Eh, probably not." Lola replied. "At this rate, it seems like Leni has completely forgotten about the vandalism. Lola let out a soft yawn, stretched, and closed her eyes again. She had to remember to do something for Lynn to show her appreciation. Her stupidity inadvertently helped Lincoln out of a jam he had no idea he was gonna be in.

"So getting back to our previous conversation, was there anything about that story that left a lasting impression?" Lucy asked, to no response. "Lola?" Lucy looked over and found Lola fast asleep in the lawn chair. Her breath moving in a quiet rhythm.

"Well that's unfortunate, I kinda wanted to talk some more." Lucy said quietly, trying to avoid disturbing her rest.

Lucy became lost in thought as she watched the sun begin to set. It had been setting earlier and earlier each day, which made her happy. Winter was always her favorite time of year. Cold and colorless. A few days prior, she had gathered with all of her other sisters to discuss the current state of the house. The ongoing sabotaging of each other's possessions was the primary topic, but Lucy didn't pay much attention to that. The second topic was much more relevant for her, Lola's new found distance and aversion towards the rest of the family. Lucy started to play with her hair as she recalled that particular exchange.

Lana, who was always the closest one to Lola, claimed that there was no change in her behavior at all. "She's just being her typical self if you ask me." was what she said. Lynn on the other hand, had a different interpretation. She stated that Lola was actually friendlier to her than she had ever been in the past. Even going as far as to help her prepare for her various sports meets. That revelation caused even greater confusion amongst the sister. Nobody was really sure what to make of the situation. Lucy however, felt nothing but a strange sense of guilt about the whole thing.

Lola's current behavior seemed to start almost immediately after she lent her the book. It seemed ridiculous to think so, but Lucy was starting to believe if it was her fault for the whole thing. Those fairy tales have had weird effects on people throughout history, so it wouldn't be that unordinary for one or two of those stories to change the way she acted. That _was_ the intended purpose of messages in them after all.

A gust of wind shot across Lucy's body, causing her to shiver. " _That's odd._ " She thought. She was usually a fan of the winter and didn't shiver very often. " _Maybe I was just caught off guard…_ " Lucy looked at Lola's sleeping face. She shivered a little too, but still kept a peaceful expression. Lucy contemplated whether she should waker her up or not. But her mind continued to wander back to her recent change in character. "If it is my fault, I'm sorry." She said.

"Hey Lucy, what're you up to?"

Turned around and saw Lincoln walking up. "Watching as the leaves meet the sweet embrace of death." She replied. "And you?"

"I just got home, but I didn't want to get too caught up in whatever seems to be going on with Lynn right now. Any idea what happened?"

Lucy stood up and started walked towards him. "A convenient distraction for your actions." Lucy said as she passed him by.

"What does that mean?" Lincoln asked.

"Just do me a favor and take care of that situation." Lucy said. Pointing to Lola's chair, but not turning around or stopping.

Not sure what she meant, Lincoln looked over the head of the chair and found the sleeping Lola. "Good grief, you'll catch a cold if you sleep here." He said with a smile and a sigh.

He carefully picked her up, making great measures to ensure he didn't wake her. Lola tossed slightly in his arms and buried her head in his chest. "I don't know what you were doing today, but I guess it really did a number on you." He laughed and quietly carried her into the house.

* * *

 **Sorry again for the long delay, April was a very busy month for me. On top of that I had some very poor planning.**

 **To make matters a little worse, I was dared by a friend that I couldn't write a NSFW Gumball fic since I had never written stuff like that before and I had also never seen any of Gumball. I accepted the challenge and started writing the exact story he came up with. The issue was that I am a stubborn person who likes to know all he can before writing about a show. So I used Hulu and the CN app to marathon all of Gumball last month. Taking up way more time that I should have(It's a good show though.) I also wanted to hold off until after Head Poet's Anxiety aired to see if anything new was done with Lucy.**

 **Thankfully I have nothing like that planned this month, and there are no crazy work related events. So I hope to get back on schedule soon.**


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